Here’s a question I have: Why do many major sports brands still act like it’s 2018 despite evidence that they don’t have to anymore? I reference 2018 specifically because I’m reminded of a Wesley Yang tweet from that exact year:
It is said that the first movie audiences ran in terror from the image of an approaching train, believing it to be real. Similarly, the first people and institutions, exposed to social media mobs groveled at the sight of what appeared to be an overwhelming consensus
The latest news about the Good Good Golf brand, Portland Trail Blazers, and A’ja Wilson’s Nike sales all point in one direction: Sports corporations strongly reacting to a fear of online mobs that don’t appear to represent actual public backlash. Let’s go through the examples…